


The Folly of Mischief

by Witchtomez



Series: Mysme Halloweek 2018 [12]
Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Creepypasta, Gen, Humor, Mysmehalloweek 2018, Not choi-cest, one man hide and seek, prompt: trick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-08-28 14:04:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16724805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witchtomez/pseuds/Witchtomez
Summary: Saeyoung had never regretted involving the internet in his pranksso badly.





	The Folly of Mischief

 

The house was completely silent, save for the sound of the monitors humming softly in the background. But the purpose wasn’t for comforting white noise.

It was to be an _alarm._

Saeyoung had never regretted involving the internet in his pranks _so badly._

It was supposed to be an enhanced prank that worked perfectly with the little doll-sized robot he had been working on. It wasn’t refined enough to produce a lot of movement, but it would have been enough for a nice little choppy, creepy walk…

The prank started going sideways when both Zen and Yoosung had to bow out on the movie night gathering due to a late rehearsal and an essay deadline respectively—but that was fine, Saeyoung simply decided to do a test run on his Halloween trick before debuting it at the annual RFA Halloween party.

When Saeran had walked in on him assembling the pieces, Saeyoung had to take a break to explain: he didn’t want a chance of his prank hitting the wrong target, after all.

“Hyung…what is all this? I didn’t even think you knew how to cook rice…but there’s red thread here? Scissors? Is this salt water? You don’t need that to cook rice— _is that incense_?” Saeran asked staring at his older twin with a mixture of confusion and pity until Saeyoung waved dismissively, chuckling at his well-meaning concern.

“Don’t worry, Saeran, I won’t try to make food. This is just a setup for a joke!”

Saeran tilted his head, not entirely convinced.

“…You’re sure I didn’t just catch you about to pray to the gods before abusing that rice?” Saeyoung mustered his greatest pout.

“You wound me, brother, truly. “ Saeran smirked at the feigned hurt, shaking his head and making to exit the kitchen.

“Ah, Saeran—go ahead and put the rice back, please? I don’t think I can fit it into the doll without messing with the robotic joints and I really need something that will allow the doll to at least walk. Gaaahhh, I can’t wait to record them wailing—oh, but I hope Yoosung won’t cry; I already have the crying emoji audio…hm—“

As Saeran removed the bowl and returned the rice to its container, he left the room with a pensive look on his face.

Not that Saeyoung noticed it while contemplating aloud to himself.

* * *

Eventually, Saeyoung decided to re-purpose a baby doll plush that had a velcro opening on the back for switching the voice box on and off. Struck with another idea, he removed the voice box with the intent to replace one of his own design; one with better sound quality. For the sake of convenience, he stitched the red thread through just one of the velcro tabs, leaving enough thread left over to wrap around the doll for the sake of selling the illusion. Just as he was testing the controls for the robotic frame and was feeling satisfied with the results thus far, there was a knock on the wall.

“Hyung…you should take a break and eat something. I made...made some pasta and put it in a bowl for you…”

Saeyoung turned, noting the weariness in his brother’s voice with concern.

“Saeran…? What’s wrong? Are you—?”

Saeran held his forehead carefully, but waved off Saeyoung’s anxiety.

“It’s ok; I’m just a bit tired. I’m going to lie down for a while, if that’s ok?”

“Of course, Saeran—there’s some medicine in the bathroom, take some to your room with you just in case,” Saeyoung urged, running ahead to fetch the pills for him along with a glass of water. Taking them with a small smile, Saeran patted his brother on the shoulder.

“Go eat. Tell me how it tastes later, huh?”

“Sure, I’ll go eat now, ok? Go rest.”

After making sure Saeran made it to his room, Saeyoung headed into the kitchen and took a quick inventory of ice packs and electrolyte drinks in the fridge before he sat down to the meal that had been prepared for him, eating it and thanking every deity above that Saeran had proven to be a talented cook and that he had finally gotten to the point where he was happy and content—enough to lend his skills to the household.

Once the meal was devoured, Saeyoung put the dishes in the sink (as per his brother’s requested amendment to the house rules). With a fresh can of PhD Pepper in his pocket, Saeyoung stretched his arms before heading back to his work desk.

 

That’s when everything went **wrong.**

 

The remote control and voice box were still on the table.

 

_The Doll was not._

 

Thinking that it had been brushed off the table in his haste to check on Saeran, Saeyoung was very confused to see that it wasn’t anywhere under the desk or nestled in the nearest pile of laundry. He was about to search behind his work desk—until the lights went down.

It was at this point that Saeyoung felt a niggling little zing of trepidation crawl up his spine. With a nervous chuckle, he made his way over to his main monitor and opened up the security system feed while clicking the tab on the web browser with the rules for this little creepypasta game.

“Hehe, how funny…I didn’t complete more than half these instructions, and I didn’t even start the game so that makes no sense even if I did believe in this gimmick, hah..hah…”

Saeyoung then turned back to his other monitor to review the security feed from a few hours before. Everything had seemed to be fine, the doll had still been on the table after Saeyoung had seen Saeran off to bed and had remained on the table after he’d gone to eat…then he noticed it.

There was a tiny wiggle of movement—barely there, easily could have been a trick of static on the camera feed.

But then the twitching continued… _until the doll sat up._

A cold bead of sweat had trickled down the back of his neck as he stood frozen, eyeing the screen in horror as the doll appeared to test out its legs with stiff movements…

He outright gasped when the doll’s head snapped up and looked directly at the camera; Saeyoung didn’t even realize he had begun to tremble until the static began to overtake the entire monitor. Backing away slowly, he kept his bespectacled eyes trained on the screen as it grew fuzzier—then began to spread to his other five monitors, brightening the pitch black room until the screens froze all at once.

The feed was suddenly back on, as normal as ever.

The doll was _nowhere._

Fumbling for his phone, Saeyoung had to take several calming breaths to tap out a message:

<Hey, Saeran? I know you must be sleeping now, but whatever you do, do not leave your room until I tell you, ok? I made a mess out here and I don’t want you to hurt yourself until I get it all cleaned up—sleep well!>

Hitting the send button, Saeyoung eyed the carton of salt and snatched it up, pouring an absurd amount into his can of soda before pouring it in his mouth and keeping it there. The taste was indescribably horrid, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Opening up the security feed app to his phone, Saeyoung checked the hallways before sprinting down it and pouring an arc of salt over the entrance to Saeran’s bedroom and bathroom. Once completed, he crept silently back down the hallway.

Ghosting his palms over the false outlet plug, Saeyoung turned the hidden lock and pulled the face plate out to extract the switchblade hidden inside. He knew he had to be prepared for any trouble with the life he’d led up to this point…he just never figured he would create the problem _in his own house_.

However, there was no time to be scared out of his mind—he would absolutely not allow **any** danger to come to Saeran, demonic or otherwise. Keeping his back to the wall, Saeyoung made his path to the nearest closet and tucked himself away with the switchblade unfolded in one hand and the open camera feed on his phone screen. The only thing he could do was wait for morning and pray that the salt would be enough to keep Saeran safe until he could finish the game.

_…but how you can properly end a game you didn’t even correctly start?_

* * *

 

“Hyung! HYUNG, HELP!”

Jerking awake, Saeyoung bumped his head against the door frame, struggling to get out of it. His heart rate began to drum so fast, it felt like it merely buzzed against the backside of his rib cage as he ripped the knob and threw open the door, barreling down the hall toward Saeran’s voice.

His heart completely stopped when he saw the arc of salt had been broken in more than one spot…as though something had shuffled through it while dragging an object off to the side. Without wasting a second, Saeyoung burst through Saeran’s bedroom door with his blade at the ready.

“Saeran! Saeran, where are you?”

To his ever mounting horror, Saeran was _nowhere_ to be found; just a mussed pile of comforter and bed sheet where he normally burrowed in to rest.

As he tore the bed linens off, another terrifying realization hit him—he no longer had the salt in his mouth…and he had used up all the salt on the arc that still lay broken outside the door.

A quick glance at Saeran’s bedside clock told him that daylight was still hours away.

Saeyoung had to fight hard to swallow the high pitched keening that wanted to claw its way out from his throat—even when he had been on missions where his only chance at survival was to hide for days until backup arrived, he had never felt such an unholy sense of spine-tinging dread. Worse still, his phone was now down to 2% and draining quickly which would end his ability to check for safe corridors.

Tossing his phone away, he carefully scooped up a handful of salt and edged his way to the bathroom to fill his mouth with a fresh batch of saltwater. At the moment,the only thing he could do was keep his back to the wall as long as possible and search his way through the house until Saeran could be found but…

As he passed the closet he’d secured himself in before, a curious feeling crept and took hold of his lungs.

_There was something shuffling in the closet._

Saeyoung hardly dared to hope, but…if there was a chance that Saeran had hid himself inside for safety…

Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened the door…and felt his heart sink. Saeran wasn’t there.

But…

_“Hehehehehehe…”_

Saeyoung’s shirt began to feel sticky on his backside. The lump of sweaters at the rear of the closet began to _move—_

“ _Heehehehee… **I~ FOUND~ YOU~**_ **!** ”

Saeyoung began to splutter as he choked on the saltwater the second he felt a hand around his ankle—

—only to find Saeran standing there as the lights miraculously came back on.

“— _Saeran_?!” he rasped out, still hacking up the salt water. Saeran merely smiled, tapping on Saeyoung’s back with a cupped palm until the coughing fit passed.

“ **Hggkk**!! Hah… _how_?”

Stepping past him, Saeran reached into the closet and extracted the creepy little unfinished murder doll prop and held it up, waving its obscene little hand. Saeyoung had to fight the urge to throw it into the nearest garbage bin until Saeran extracted an identical remote to the one Saeyoung had left on the table—pointing to it, Saeran merely put it back in his pocket.

“The one you left on the table is a fake I switched out while you were eating.”

At this admission, Saeyoung began to release his breaths in heavy pants as the relief flooded his lungs. Eventually his laughter began to bubble out until he had to wipe his tears.

“That’s…god, how did you pull off the high pitched voice? I didn’t even put my receiver in it yet!”

Without missing a beat, the younger twin tapped at the tiny lips on the doll’s face; upon closer inspection, Saeyoung spotted that the speaker grate had been painted to match the fleshy color. Then Saeran pulled out his phone, tapping the screen and holding the speaker to his lips.

“What do you think?” asked the doll in the same high pitched, distorted tone. Sinking to his knees, Saeyoung doubled over in laughter.

“S-saeran… _SAERAN_. THIS WAS BRILLIANT! Gaaaahhh please, I beg you, help me polish this prank for the party next week—please? Pleeeease, pretty please?”

Pressing his lips together thoughtfully, Saeran was torn; he had initially intended to serve his brother a taste of his own medicine after being regaled with notorious tales of his previous schemes from the rest of the RFA but…there was a sense of temptation he could not deny at the prospect he’d never considered.

“…We’ll see. But for now, just clean up this mess outside my door, I want to go to sleep now, hyung.”

Saeyoung hopped up with renewed energy he didn’t really have, snatching up the dustpan and broom.

“Roger that—but for now, lock that thing up. I’m not taking any more risks before bed.”

Saeran snorted, feeling rather proud of himself. Halloween might yet be fun after all…

**Author's Note:**

> The prank Seven was trying to spoof off of is based off this [ creepypasta](https://theghostinmymachine.com/2014/04/16/the-most-dangerous-games-one-man-hide-and-seek/). ;)


End file.
